Christopher Kepner, the father of Anna Kepner who was killed aboard a cruise ship earlier this month, has slammed the teen’s mother, accusing her of lying in the wake of the cheerleader’s death.
Heather Wright, Anna’s biological mother, said she was warned not to attend the teenager’s memorial service by Anna’s father or she would be arrested for unpaid child support. However, Wright claims she did attend the service.
“They said I never went, but I did,” she told Fox News Digital. “I didn’t want to be seen, so I made sure no one seen me—plus they can’t stop me from going anyway, even though Chris said he would have me arrested for back child support.”
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Wright had previously told Inside Edition that she planned on attending her daughter’s funeral with a disguise. “I’m going to put a wig on and wear some really tall shoes because I’m 4-foot-9,” she said.
Christopher Kepner confirmed to the Daily Beast that he did ban Wright from the funeral, but explained it came after Wright struggled with addiction for years and was absent from their daughter’s life.
“Did I tell Heather ‘if you show up, you’re gonna be arrested?’ Of course I did,” he said. “She has refused to fix her life. She has refused to do anything for her daughter. As Anna‘s father, I have paid her back child support just to keep her out of jail, but that doesn’t get posted anywhere.”
He claimed that he “never cared about the money” because he raised his daughter “the way that she needed to be raised. She got everything that she needed to succeed in life.”
“And no, she did not show up here,” he said about Wright’s claim she attended the funeral. “She can lie to everybody all she wants to, but I know for a fact she did not show up here.”
Anna Kepner was only four years old when her parents split up with Wright then moving to Oklahoma. She claims she was excluded from her daughter’s life and was even initially left out of her daughter’s online obituary—although an edited version later included her name, while removing other relatives.
Anna, from Titusville, Florida, was found dead in her cabin on the Carnival Horizon cruise on November 8 underneath her bed, wrapped in a blanket and covered in lifejackets. She was on a six-day cruise from Florida to the Caribbean with her blended family, she was sharing the room with her biological brother, 14, and her step-brother, 16.
Her step-brother is now a suspect in her death, according to separate court filings in a custody case from Anna’s stepmother, Shauntel Hudson, who asked the court to postpone her child custody hearing with her ex-husband, as one of her minor children could face federal charges.
“The Respondent has been advised through discussions with FBI investigators and her attorneys, that a criminal case may be initiated against one of the minor children of this instant action,” the filing stated.
The 18-year-old cheerleader’s cause of death was revealed to be asphyxiation resulting from an arm across her neck. Preliminary information does not suggest signs of sexual assault or that alcohol or drugs were involved; however, investigators did find two bruises on the side of her neck.
Despite having a blended family, Anna’s grandparents, Barbara and Jeffrey Kepner, who were also aboard the cruise, said the teen and her stepbrother were close, telling ABC News they were like “two peas in a pod.”
However, Christopher Kepner told the Beast that Anna was not close to her mother, saying the only pictures Wright has of their daughter are ones she “stole” from his and his family’s Facebook and TikToks.
“If people would actually look into the videos that Anna posted about her mother, you would see that Anna did not have a relationship with Heather,” he said. “Heather did not know anything about Anna. Heather walked out the door when (Anna) was three years old and never looked back.”
He explained that Wright only came to Florida once after 2018 for three days and “could not stop with the drugs and stealing things in our hometown.”
After that, he claims “the last thing that Heather did to Anna was flipped her off on her way to the airplane to go home.”
Wright did not immediately respond to the Beast’s request for comment regarding her ex-husband’s statements.
Christopher Kepner previously explained that before her death, his “beautiful, young” daughter—who was affectionately known as “Anna Banana”—was set to graduate high school in May with plans to enlist in the military to be a master-at-arms. Then, she wanted to return to Titusville to work in the police canine unit.
“She was full of life and loved by everyone in this community,” he said. “The whole family is lost for words. We miss her and love her more than anything.”
As for Wright, she says she is grieving the loss of her daughter.
“She was my daughter, and I loved her with all of my heart and soul,” she told Fox News Digital. “The song ‘I Am Not Okay’ by Jelly Roll is exactly how I feel.”
The post Family Feud Erupts After Cheerleader, 18, Killed on Cruise appeared first on The Daily Beast.
